These questions and others
are addressed in a study of middle school social studies teachers in
Missouri. There are two assumptions to this study. First, instructional
technology is a valuable tool for teaching social studies in the middle
school. Second, there are particular instructional technology strategies
in the study, but there are other instructional applications of technology
used in middle school classrooms. Within this study, word processing
is not looked at as a separate application of technology and e-mail
is accounted for in the Internet applications.
Methodology
The population for this study
was the middle school social studies teachers of the five hundred and
thirty-seven school districts in the state of Missouri. The Department
of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) of the state of Missouri
provided the names of the social studies teachers used in the study.
The list of teachers used to develop the sampling group for the study
contained the names of teachers employed in educational institutions
labeled as middle schools in Missouri. A simple random sampling technique
was used to select the one hundred and twenty middle school social studies
teachers who were asked to respond to a questionnaire determining the
usage of computer-based applications and software during instruction
in their classrooms. The study questionnaire was developed by the researcher
based upon information garnered during a review of the literature pertaining
to computer-based instruction. One hundred and two middle school teachers
or eighty-four percent of the teachers identified in the sample responded
to the researcher's survey questionnaire.
The case study component
of the study was conducted with five teachers that indicated, on their
survey questionnaire, the usage of at least four computer-based instructional
strategies in their middle school social studies classrooms. In particular,
the five teachers were asked to expound upon, in an interview with the
researcher, survey questions one, two, three, four, and five. Also,
the five teachers were asked to designate two to four students to be
interviewed by the researcher.
Findings
The usage of computer-based
instructional strategies coupled with the affects of the aforementioned
technological teaching methods in Missouri's middle school social studies
classrooms is detailed in Table 1 through Table 3. Appendix A is the
research study questionnaire. Northrup and Rooze align the ten computer-based
instructional strategies in Table II to technology foundation standards
of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), gleaned
from a national study developed in 1990 and strategies viewed by the
researcher in middle school social studies classrooms.
Table 1 reports the frequency
and percentage of Missouri Middle School Studies Teachers whom regularly
use the computer-based instructional strategies. Table 1 indicates the
middle school social studies teachers determined the Internet was the
computer-based instructional strategy used most often in classroom instruction.
Of the102 social studies instructors answering the research survey,
53.9 % integrated the Internet into their social studies curriculum.
The remaining nine computer-based instructional strategies, listed in
the research survey, were employed by less than 30% of the research
survey respondents.
Table 1
| Regular
Usage of Ten Computer-Based Instructional Strategies by Missouri
Middle School Social Studies Teachers |
|
Computer-Based Instructional
Strategies Usage f %
|
| Internet |
55
|
53.9
|
| Educational
Games |
29
|
28.4
|
| Simulations |
23
|
22.5
|
| Graphics |
17
|
16.7
|
| Problem
Solving |
15
|
14.7
|
| Database |
15
|
14.7
|
| Spreadsheets |
12
|
11.8
|
| Drill and
Practice |
11
|
10.8
|
| Tutorials |
10
|
9.8
|
| Developing
Webpages |
3
|
2.9
|
|
| N = 102 |
During an interview with one
of the teachers, she stated, "Yes, without a doubt. It [the Internet]
is so much better than a textbook and a worksheet thrown at them and
me up there giving notes and saying copy this overhead. There is still
a big problem with how to manage a one-computer classroom or a two,
in a rare case, three-computer classroom. Anytime it [social studies
instruction] is hooked to a computer automatically you got a plus on
your side. Now if you don't use that [computer-based instruction], it
quickly burns out. So if you don't fan the flames it is not going to
work." A student of this teacher stated, "The Internet gives
you lots of points of view and there are different things you can clue
into. It makes you more interested because so many things to look at
than just a summary of the textbook or something. With the Internet
you are able to search for the things you want to look for. Computers
are fun because it is not formatted, like reading chapters out of a
book. With a computer you can get more in depth and you can get the
most information."
Within this classroom, iAdventure
is used to develop critical thinking skills and develop Internet skills.
iAdventures are designed as creative, inquiry-based learning activities,
with students working in pairs, each pair using one Internet-connected
computer. This creates a need for a group of twelve or more computers
in each school where participating teachers wish to use iAdventures
(although they could be modified for almost any situation, even a single
computer classroom). iAdventures, funded by a Competitive Technology
grant from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education,
supports teachers in their quest to learn a variety of Internet skills,
how to use an image-editing program, how to create and modify web pages,
and then use these skills to create their own iAdventure, to be used
with their students (http://warrensburg.k12.mo.us/iadventure/overview.html).
The teacher also used the
Internet for her students to communicate and she states the value of
KeyPals as a global communication device. "Using KeyPals as the
medium, my social studies classes communicate with other schools, other
schools in our state, other states, and with students in other countries."
By integrating KeyPals in to the social studies curriculum students
can "discuss social studies related literature, what we enjoyed
about the book, and what we disliked about the book.
